A wedding, a bouquet, an excursion and what's next?

I attended the wedding of one of my colleagues and this was the first 'real' wedding I've ever been to. (I've also been to the wedding of my mother and Béla bácsi and I was the bartender at a wedding party - none of which I would qualify as 'real'.) Orsi and her husband-to-be have been together for 10 years, so I'd say it was reasonable to decide what they wanted in the long run. The venue was the Castle Hill, an old chapel in the Historical Museum of Budapest. They didn't have a religious ceremony, so it was all quite simple: they were both asked whether they wanted to marry each other, they both said yes, signed the book, then the witnesses signed the book and that was it. Then, we gathered in the courtyard to congratulate the couple, have a glass of (alcohol-free!?) champagne, talk and shiver in the cold.

Of course, a wedding is not a wedding without the bride's bouquet being thrown, so once the organizer repeatedly asked all girls to move to the center, I walked there with a bunch of my colleagues and some other unknown female individuals. Orsi turned around and threw the flowers, which landed in my hands. Not catching them would not have been as option as the roses would probably have hit my face if I did not reach for them; there was literally no escape, I was the target and I had to accept my faith and save myself from the shame of being hit on the head by a bouquet of flowers. So, I caught the bouquet.

Two weekends ago, Jani and I did our usual annual excursion in the Pilis - for the fourth time. Within the first month after we got to know each other, he proposed to climb a mountain in the Pilis. He said that he had been watching that mountain for the past 10 years, but he has never known anyone whom to climb it with. The moment I saw it, I understood. It was freakin' steep. But it was time to prove my worth and I said okay, let's do it. It was early September, it was still very hot, and the side of the mountain was full of ladybirds, hundreds, thousands of them. We brought some sausages, onions, made a fire on top of the peak and roasted the sausages. It was a fabulous day. That was when we decided that we should do this every year, and we have done so ever since.

This is what the peak looks like from the road.

So, this is why we packed up some sausages, tomatos, onions, cheese and bread and drove to the Pilis again. And the funniest thing happened. We accidentally started climbing another mountain. Once you get close enough to the mountain, it is steep enough not to see whether you are at the right place, and this time, we climbed the neighbouring peak. It was not a lesser challenge, however, and by the time we arrived proudly to the top, I stripped myself of 2 pullovers (and got a cold, of course). We collected some dry wood, quickly built a fireplace, spread a sheet on the grass and just lay there in the sun. I even fell asleep for 20 minutes. Then, we got up and made our food.

The lazy way to roast sausages.

And the view from the peak.

Since last year, I have been extremely nervous to start descending on time, because last year we left too late and it was horrifying to climb down in the dark. I was scared to slip, which I did, by the way, but luckily, I only got a huge bruise. See, there are no roads or paths on these mountains and falling would mean major wounds, which are understandably not the most appealing things to look forward to. So, having finished our meal, we looked for a patch that was still sunny, spread our sheet on the ground and lay there for another twenty minutes, enjoying the sun. And then we descended. It was lovely day again.

So, what do we have here? I bouquet from a wedding, a sweet day together, lots of bad stuff from the past months... At least, now we are talking about what we do and do not want and where we are heading. Unfortunately, just like when seeing a couple's therapist, the side effect of talking might be the end. We are figuring it out.